The court does not provide any clues about when it will issue rulings, but Monday is one of the dates set aside on the calendar for announcements.
If the Supreme Court decision doesn’t arrive this week, there will be plenty of other healthcare-related action on Capitol Hill.
On Tuesday, the Ways and Means Health subcommittee will hold a hearing on the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission’s (MedPAC) June report to Congress. The report gives MedPAC’s recommendations for reforming Medicare and its payment systems. The group’s chairman, Glenn Hackbarth, will testify.
Also Tuesday, the Senate Cancer Coalition, led by chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), will hold a forum on breast cancer.
On Thursday, the House Energy and Commerce Health subcommittee will hold a hearing on the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including its “research and funding priorities,” which Republicans have criticized in the past. NIH Director Francis Collins will testify.
Later on Thursday, the Senate Health Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will hold a hearing on disability issues and the Supreme Court’s 1999 decision in Olmstead v. L.C., which held that Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits the segregation of people with disabilities.
Off the Hill, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will hold a press conference with the Human Rights Campaign, the largest U.S. civil rights group for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. The event on Tuesday will take place at Howard University Hospital and serve to highlight this year’s Healthcare Equality Index, an annual report to highlight where LGBT Americans can receive the best care without prejudice.
On Monday, the Heritage Foundation will hold an event on lawsuits filed against the Obama administration’s birth-control coverage mandate. A panel will also discuss the possible effects of the Supreme Court’s decision on healthcare reform on the individual mandate to have insurance.
On Tuesday, the group United Cerebral Palsy will hold a briefing with President and CEO Stephen Bennett and Vice President of Policy Connie Garner.